Los Angeles Harbor Light on a San Pedro breakwater, circa 1939. Courtesy of U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Lighthouses & Library of Congress.

In 1987, the historic Los Angeles Harbor Light (or Angel's Gate Lighthouse), built in 1913, became the first California lighthouse to rely on solar power. Two years later, after complaints about its brightness, it became the first lighthouse in the nation to switch back to a conventional energy source.

The Angeles Gate/Los Angeles Harbor Lighthouse is the only lighthouse in the world that emits an emerald-colored beacon.

The Point Fermin Lighthouse, is one of the oldest wooden lighthouses on the Pacific Coast, Two sisters ran the lighthouse when it began operations in 1874.